In most parts of the world, construction of new buildings, both commercial buildings and homes, has been continuing at a rapid pace for a number of years. In many parts of the world, the construction pace outstrips the available skilled labor supply. For the most part, building construction techniques follow patterns which have been in existence for many years. Construction is fairly labor intensive, particularly in home building. As a consequence, if skilled labor is in short supply or is not readily available, construction of homes and the like falls below the demand; and often the quality of the finished construction is not as good as it should be.
In the United States, and in many other parts of the world, two general types of home construction are employed. These are masonry construction, using concrete blocks or bricks and frame construction in which a wooden frame for the house first is erected. This frame then is covered with suitable materials to form the exterior and interior walls, ceilings and roofs. Both of these types of construction require many hours of skilled labor.
In an effort to cut the costs of home building, some moderately sized homes have been "prefabricated", using assembly line techniques with only final assembly of prefinished wall panels, etc. being required on the construction site itself. Such techniques, however, have not reached wide-spread acceptance and there still exists a transportation problem in shipping prefinished panels or subassemblies to the construction site.
Ideally, it is desirable to provide a construction technique which permits shipment of bulk materials to the construction site, itself, but where the construction of the home or building may be effected rapidly, with readily available materials, by a minimum number of skilled workmen. This is particularly desirable in locations where large amounts of housing must be provided in a relatively short period of time to accommodate large influxes of people in fast growing areas. In such areas, conventional home building techniques generally require too much time, even if the necessary labor is available.